Door and Window Installation

Have ready

Clear the floor and the wall on both sides of the opening so the unit can come in without dragging, and take down blinds, curtains, and anything hanging near the trim. Have the new unit on site and unopened, with the paperwork, so the rough opening can be measured against it. Keep pets out of the work area. The tech checks the rough opening for square and plumb, probes the sill and the lower jamb for soft wood, and confirms the unit size against the opening before anything is removed.

• Opening checked for square
• Flashing
• Insulation of the shim space
• Hardware

The visit

The opening gets checked for square and for rot at the sill before the unit comes out of the crate. Flashing goes on the sill first, then the sides, then the head, in that order. The shim space gets insulated, and the flange is not the only thing holding a door against a shore wind.

A window installed over a soft sill is the callback. Elberon and Long Branch sills hold water. We cut the rot out and rebuild the sill pan instead of setting a new window on sponge.

Permit

Replacing a window or door in the same opening, with the same size and the same egress, normally does not need a permit in New Jersey. Like-for-like replacement is treated as maintenance. A permit is normally not required for that. Changing the opening size, cutting a new opening, adding a door where there was none, or altering egress from a bedroom does get filed and inspected. Emergency escape requirements at bedrooms come up here, so it is settled before work starts.

On the Shore

At the Shore the failure is almost never the glass. It is the sill. Wind-driven rain gets pushed up under the sill pan and the flange, water sits in the rough opening, and freeze-thaw works it deeper each winter. Salt spray corrodes the fasteners and the metal flashing while the wood behind it stays wet. That is why the sill pan, the flashing sequence, and stainless or hot-dip fasteners matter more here than the unit rating.

When we leave

Doors get opened and closed through their whole swing to confirm they latch without a shoulder, the deadbolt lines up, and the weatherstrip seals evenly around the frame all the way down to the threshold. Windows get opened, closed, and locked, and the weep holes at the sill get checked so they drain rather than trap water. Foam, shims, and trim are inspected. The tech points out the drain path at the sill and asks you to watch that spot during the first hard rain from the east.

Built with

The typical assembly is a prehung or replacement unit with a factory sill pan, self-adhered flashing tape at the sill and jambs, shims, low-expansion window and door foam, and a backer rod with a sealant joint at the exterior. Fasteners are stainless or hot-dip galvanized. Exterior trim is PVC or primed finger-jointed material that will not wick water. Brick mold, drip cap, and a properly seated threshold or sill nose finish the outside.